Nightmare
by supernaturalstevie
Summary: Edward comes home early from a hunting trip to find a sleeping Bella having a nightmare. E/B.
1. The Night

A/N My apologies if this has been used before, just an idea that's been playing in my head for a while now. :)

Summary/Background: Takes place sometime after New Moon toward the beginning of Eclipse I think. Edward comes back from hunting and comforts Bella from a nightmare. R&R plz.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I claim nothing. I apologize if this offends.

Nightmare

Edward crept through Bella's window, home early from a hunting trip and hoping to surprise his love when she awoke. He silently and swiftly lay down next to the sleeping girl curled up in her bed. He just lay there, watching her sleep, thinking how beautiful she was and how glad he was to be back with her. It was though something inside him released it's tension now that they were back together. He was always able to think of her, to worry for her and her prone-ness to injury while he was away, which was, while wonderful in some ways, also quite - well, worrisome - for want of a better word.

She rolled over with a slight groan. She was now facing him. He inhaled her smell, his throat burned. He took in her long, dark hair, fanned out on the pillow, lightly framing her small, fragile face. So smooth, and soft. But as he studied her face, her eyelashes, the curve of her nose, the shape of her lips . . . he took a pause. The expression on her face was not one of peace, as it should be, but a much more tense, scrunched pose. She sighed roughly, "What do you mean . . . " she mumbled sleepily. Dreaming. But it got worse, her hand moved roughly up to her forehead, brushing through her hair, she tossed a bit. "You can't . . ."

This was not a good dream. Usually when Edward was with her at night she slept peacefully. She whispered words of love, or of humor. She spoke in her sleep. Often about Edward. Occasionally mentioning things suggesting her parents or school work, but rarely did she get a look of such consternation. There were a few times right after he had returned, she had gotten a bit like this . . . slightly upset, but then would wake up, smile at him, and fall back into a restful sleep.

She was getting worse, tossing more, the expression on her face tightening. She looked less . . . confused, and more, upset. What could she be dreaming about? Edward started to wonder if something had happened while he'd been away for the last four days on his hunting trip. "Please, please! Don't . . . no." She whimpered. Edward was struck, what should he do? It was only getting worse, but he didn't know if he should wake her. "Bella." He whispered quietly, but she was too far in to hear him. He continued to watch, resolute that if it got any worse he would start trying to shake her awake.

"Edward!" She cried out. He was struck. Her tone was foreign to him. This was not how she usually said his name. . .

"No. Please. Edward, please. You- you can't." She was crying now, still trapped in the thralls of what must be a nightmare. "You . . . go . . ." She whispered amid heavy dream sobs, shaking her head.

He was reaching out to shake her awake when she started, he backed up slightly giving her space and letting her assess her surroundings, tears still dripping down her face. She sighed, resting heavily back on her bed. "Bella." She whispered scornfully, shaking her head, seeming to be reprimanding herself. Edward's eyebrows furrowed as he took in this odd reaction to being awoken by a nightmare. She reached her hand up to wipe away the tears that had yet to cease running from her eyes. She was sad. She sighed again, pulling her legs up to chest and wrapping her arms tightly around herself, as though protecting herself from something, she turned over to face Edward. It took her a moment, but she finally realized what she was seeing and took a little breath, not quite a gasp. "Edward." She breathed.

"Bella, dear, are you alright?" he asked in concern, inching closer, carefully.

She closed her eyes, and sucked her bottom lip slightly. She sighed yet again. "Yes, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting you until tomorrow afternoon. . . er, or this afternoon I suppose." She amended noting the time.

Edward smiled crookedly at her, taking her breath away. "I came back a bit early. I missed you."

She smiled back at him. Her arms loosened, and she uncurled slightly.

"I missed you too."

He decided he needed to get the conversation back on track, or else he would never get to the bottom of things. "You were having a nightmare?"

Her smile faltered, a lot. She turned away, rolling onto her back. "It was nothing."

"Please. Tell me."

She looked back at him, mistakenly, at his eyes. "Yes."

He smiled slightly. Forever amazed at how hard she made it for him to read her. "Yes, you were having a nightmare?"

"Yes, I was having a nightmare." She said a little timidly. Her face looked haunted, and unsure. He didn't like that look, he'd seen that look so often before. More often than he liked. She randomly got this look when she was talking to him, or first seeing him after a brief time apart, ever since they had met. He had yet to completely figure out what went through her head to put that look on her face, but he had a few guesses.

"What was it about?" She hesitated. He waited. And waited. "Please Bella. Will you tell me." He was forever impatient when it came to knowing what she could possibly be thinking.

She took a deep hesitant breath, and looked deep into his eyes. Pain. That's what he saw there. This nightmare was _very _painful. What . . . oh.

"I left you." He knew enough of what had occurred while he was away to understand. He had seen what had happened to her in countless minds. Sometimes over and over. Often, with people such as Charlie and Jacob. She looked away, nodding in affirmation.

Edward made his decision. "I want you to tell me."

"What?" She snapped her attention back to his face, looking for . . . something.

"I want to know. I want to know what you're thinking. What happened. I want you to talk about it. What brought this nightmare on tonight? You haven't had one since I've been back. . . " she looked away sheepishly. "You have had more? When? I haven't noticed. . . ." he trailed off thinking back to all of those nights, how could he have missed them?

Still looking away, guiltily almost, if that were at all possible, and with Bella, he supposed that definitely would be possible for her to feel guilt over having nightmares - and hiding them from him, she answered him, "Only when you are away. When-when you're gone I feel . . . " she sighed. Tears started leaking from her eyes again, and she tried to hide it.

"Bella." He reached his hand under her chin. "Bella sweetheart." He pulled her chin lightly so that she was looking at him, using his other hand, he brushed away her tears. "It hurts you when I'm gone." He said solemnly, "I know you know that I'll come back, but I understand that it would bring back those fears and feelings." He paused a moment, staring at her, "I am sorry. I love you so much, and I wish every second with all of my being that I had not hurt you like that, that you would not have to feel this. Especially not still. I wish I could hear your mind. So that I could help you. Will you please share what you are thinking?"

She hesitated.

"You don't want to hurt me? Is that why you won't tell me?" he asked, guessing at the most likely, and least painful alternative for himself.

Her eyes pleaded with him. She nodded.

He smiled sadly at her. "Think about this, love. My pain comes from knowing that I've caused you pain." He paused, looking deep into her eyes, and hoping with every molecule of his being that she would believe him right now, as he knew that she often discounted a lot of what he said when it involved his feelings for her. She had so little self-worth, a problem that needed to be remedied as soon as possible.

"But, if I were to be the one who could help you. Who could ease your pain, which I can't do unless I understand it. If you could tell me, confide in me darling. If you could do that," his voice was soft, his eyes deploring, as his hand caressed her cheek and wiped away another stray tear, "Then we could heal together, love. I want to help you, and you need to talk about this, to accept your pain, to see the truth and heal. The truth is I love you and we will be together for a long time." His thumb brushed her lower lip.

She looked down, away from him. "I -" She took a deep breath. She looked back up at him, into his eyes, he noticed an intense struggle within her. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. It's just- I'm not used to it." She looked slightly ashamed.

"Not used to what?" He asked puzzled.

"To talking about things like this. I just. . . I don't know. I suffer in silence. I can't talk about these things. About my feelings. About my thoughts." She looked at him, lost and unsure of herself.

Worried that he would reject her now?

"I understand." He said to her relief. "We'll work on it." He smiled at her, softly, crookedly. She gave him a small smile back.

"Why don't you go back to sleep now. I'll be here when you wake up, we can talk more then. I think we've made milestones here tonight." He could have been teasing, but it was truth. He would get her to open up about her fears, to stop keeping them so bottled up inside. She relaxed and curled up against him, he wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm from his cool skin, and then held her close. He kissed the top of her head as she drifted off peacefully.

"I love you, dream sweet, no more nightmares tonight, love. I'm here." And she was back to her peaceful mumbling and sighs of his name.

A/N Please review!! Let me know what you think so I can get better! I hope you enjoyed it. It was meant to be a one shot, but if enough people like it, I might try to carry it on a bit more. Thanks for reading. Peace.


	2. The Morning

She slept late the next morning. Saturday. Charlie left early to go fishing and Edward merely waited for her to awaken. She did.

Opening her eyes, she moaned a little and smiled at the sight of her beloved. "Good morning." He said with a crooked smile.

"Good morning. You're back earlier than expected." Her pupils dilated slightly and she scratched her nose as she sat up in her bed.

"Bella." He said disapprovingly.

"What?" She frowned slightly.

"I know you remember me coming back last night." She sighed.

"Well, I sort of hoped you had forgotten. Or that it had been a dream."

"Another nightmare you mean." He looked away.

They sat in silence for a moment. Both staring at the bed spread. He looked up first, only to notice a tear streaking down her cheek. "Bella-" he said at a loss for what could possibly have brought on such sudden pain.

"Don't be mad." She looked up, "I- I can't. I just can't-" She crawled out of bed and headed for the bathroom, wiping away the tears in her eyes, and fighting back new ones.

He waited for her, allowing her a moment of human time, allowing her to gather her thoughts. If only he knew what she was thinking . . .

She returned sheepishly to her room, busying about with nothing in particular, and trying to avoid looking at the love of her life who was merely watching, waiting, while sitting on her bed.

It finally became too much, "Bella," but she didn't stop, "Bella please?"

She paused in the middle of putting a book back in its place on the shelf. "Okay. Okay, Edward, I remember last night, but-- can't we just forget it? Can't we just pretend I'm . . . I really am fine. I'll be okay." She still didn't look at him.

"I know." He said simply.

She turned to face him. "Really? You're just going to let it go?"

"No. I said 'I know,' and I do know, I know that you'll be okay. That you are fine. However, I don't want to forget, I don't want to pretend that I didn't come in here last night and find you in pain. Bella, can't you understand that--" he paused, wondering how to phrase this so that it wouldn't hurt her, but with Bella, it seemed like everything hurt her somehow, so maybe the best bet was the truth. "Can't you understand that I failed you, and I want to make up for it? I hurt you and I didn't come back to fix it. Now I find you hurting and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try, just try to relieve you of some of that pain. Especially when I have a hand in causing it."

She started to argue, but then looked at his eyes. Maybe, just maybe, playing along wouldn't be so bad. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes . . . and nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I said okay." They stayed there for a minute, just waiting. Then Edward sighed, he smiled at her and shook his head slightly.

"Come here." He said, motioning for her to sit with him. She moved to sit next to him on the bed, and he pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head. She melted into his embrace. "I can't stand not touching you, not feeling you safely with me. I feel helpless when you are out of reach, like there is no way I can possibly keep you safe unless I can hold onto you, hold you away from harm . . . " He sighed again. She just stayed quiet. "Bella?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure? I don't want to force your hand. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm alright, I just-- what do you want to know?" She frowned slightly, leaning further into him for that promised protection, hoping that maybe he could protect her from these hurtful memories too.

He thought for a second. Thinking he should ease her into this unknown territory. But where to begin? "Tell me no if it's too much, but I'd like to know what you dreamt last night."

Bella sighed. He wanted to know what she had dreamt. It had been the same as usual, nothing particularly interesting. Just a bunch of images that her subconscious was tying together to make the picture of her suffering. She sighed again.

"Is it too much?" He asked worried.

It would be better to just tell him, rather than forcing his imagination to go wild. But maybe it would be better to play it down a lot, and maybe she could fish some information out of him. "No, it wasn't that bad. How did you even know I was having a nightmare?" _Please don't say I was screaming._

"You were talking. And crying." She looked relieved. "You weren't screaming this time." She looked up slightly startled. Had he guessed her thoughts?

"How did you . . ." if she hadn't screamed last night the only way he could know she had screamed before was if he'd seen Charlie's thoughts. "Do Charlie and Jake think about it?" She asked, trying not to look embarrased.

"Yes." He answered.

"What do you know?"

"Only what I've seen in their heads." He didn't want to have to tell her. To show her a glimpse of the pain he could see. It might hurt her more to know.

She looked up at his eyes, pleading lied in there but her voice was clear as she asked of him, "What do you know?"

He sighed heavily, this wasn't working quite as he had hoped. "Bella." He shook his head slightly. "You're turning this around, love." She blushed and he smiled at her coniving mind. "Okay. We need to work this out a little better. I suppose it's unfair of me to ask these things of you without completely returning the favor. I'm just so used to knowing everyone else's secrets and being able to keep my own. Some of my secrets aren't necessarily mine to tell either." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He shifted so that they were completely facing each other and he looked deep into her eyes, causing her breathing to hitch and her heart to skip a beat. "Charlie remembers the screaming. Jake remembers your eyes. And everyone remembers the way you looked like a zombie and walked around as though you had to- to hold yourself together." He paused, he hesitated slightly, he tried to control the anguish he felt, to not let it show in his face . . . "Did you have to- to physically, hold yourself together?" He asked carefully.

Bella didn't want him to know. She didn't want to hurt him with the truth. "Edward it wasn't-" But he saw her complacency coming a mile away.

He looked deeper into her eyes, "I love you."

She stopped, she looked confused.

"Bella, I love you."

"I- I love you too."

He smiled at her, her favorite crooked smile. She smiled back, letting out a little breath she hadn't known she was holding. She breathed deeper, and suddenly the words were easy. She knew exactly what to say, and she didn't have to lie, or withhold the truth, or avoid anything. "It hurt. I felt like I was falling apart, and I had to keep myself together." She looked down, and then looked back up at Edward, smiling.

"I dreamt we were in the woods. You were telling me things that didn't make sense. I was confused. I was chasing you and you were always just out of reach. I dreamt about you saying goodbye to me."

A/N: Sorry it's so short, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm working on continuing. More soon! Thanks for all the support, I hope you enjoy this little bit.


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